Vovin, though?
Quinton? That one doesn't seem as obvious to me.
Quinton? Nah, I very much doubt it. I mean, he is probably Biocorp like many at SGS, but most likely just an insignificant New Biocorp scientist.
Vovin is probably one of those characters that have/had an important role, and while it's good to know about them, we do not actually meet them in the(/this) game. Like General Melek.
Here I posted his bio mainly because it helps with the Ezra/Anton connection. Every time you get a new piece of info about him you also get something that confirms one of the previous ones, until it becomes impossible to misinterpret the situation.
From Wyatt you learn the two men who came to him more than 100 years ago were probably Biocorp, one being bald, pale, with a breathing mask and one mechanical eye (really, this one everyone gets instantly), the other skinny with his face burnt. Thought control was used to keep the mutagen canisters secret.
From the Beast quest you learn that Ezra knows about psimorphs (confirming Biocorp connection, making his Depot A involvement even more likely).
From Oculus you learn that Anton Matveev was an apex, infamous for unconsented human experiments (Depot A), hideous self-experimentation (mechanical eye, signs of previously undergoing mutation - the pupil of his real eye being dilated, a trademark mutie/mutant trait), worked on Phenotype Dynamics (mutagen research) and also on psimorphs, and of course was a thought controller.
And you also learn that there was this other guy, Kirill Gavrilyuk, who was also an apex, and probably a metathermics user (burnt face), but no mention of a direct link to Anton aside from some joint projects.
And then DC confirms that yes, these two indeed used to hang out and cause misery together (more or less confirming that it was Vovin with Ezra at Depot A), mentions that Anton is "frigid as a corpse" just in case you still had any doubts left, and then you learn that psimorphs were created by Parkinson at Hollow Earth, which pretty much seals it. But then DC also adds a whole new layer to the story with Slavkovic and his human experiments, although for now this is left unresolved as we don't even know what happened to him in the end, only that despite him considering it he did not become one of the Tithonus subjects.
So yeah, the whole thing is built up very nicely throughout the game.
Are both types of psionic potential natural? Furthermore is psionic potential something that was always latent and uncovered, or is it new to humans and other creatures alltogether?
It's probably better if I just quote this part instead of paraphrasing. Comes so early in the game that it's pretty easy to forget, and then skip on later playthroughs:
"It's a relatively rare inheritable complex genetic trait that triggers development of certain, otherwise latent components in the brain."
"No one is really sure. Research indicates that it's a relatively recent genetic mutation, but it sure could not have been a random one. So many things about it are just too complex and convenient to be anything but artificially designed. There are problems with this theory, though. Former Biocorp's head of genetic research, Hal Roche, outlines these problems best in his thesis. I won't bore you with details but the essence of the problem is that, with the technology that we currently have at our disposal, creating, testing and integrating such complex genetic structures is simply not possible without a colossal amount of trial and error work. So much trial and error work, Roche argued, that even if you combined all the genetic processors in the world in his time and let them work on the subject for the entire time of their existence, they would still be extremely unlikely to produce these results."
Make of this what you will.
I agree it's possible that it was an effect of the monoliths, although nothing suggests that the non-psi HE staff that interacted with and harvested the pillars developed any kind of psi abilities, with the exception of Wasi Abdul, maybe.
Also remember that Biocorp had no knowledge of the monoliths/pillars, and even Hollow Earth existed for many years before they discovered them. For example psimorphs were created before the discovery, but using shards on them later had many beneficial effects on their development.
It would probably help if we knew whether the monoliths are exclusive to the south, or present in all Underrail.
While there is a greater, sort of background plot that concerns the nature of time, the game is largely about the Underrail itself - its inhabitants, politics, strife, dangers, mysteries, as well as the player's place within all this.
Well, that was a wise decision. I have no idea where the nature of time comes into the picture, aside from the vague and confusing chronology of the visions you already mentioned, the possible time traveling or clairvoyance of Six (and for all his predictions he failed to predict that the second the Faceless refused to give me more information in exchange for the Cube I'd hit "Export Character" with it still in my inventory. Take that, Six.). Well, and that one sign on the Cube that stands for space-time curvature/event horizon/etc. (the M/W looking thing, perhaps?).
But hey, I can't wait to find out.
Unrelated question.
Some bots have True Sight, makes sense. Both Godmen have it too, sure. And the Eos psionic projections too, which is also understandable.
But Azif? From what I remember he is the only human (?) NPC in the game with True Sight. I wonder why.
Even more unrelated, but if anyone knows what the abbreviations SAI, SC, and NRS stand for in the game, I would really appreciate the information.
